England tour of India, Jan 25 - March 11

[Durhamfootman]

not going at all well for England. From being in a position where they had a real chance at forcing a victory, they are inevitably sliding towards a crushing defeat

To demonstrate how bad things are atm, England are now relying on Root and Bairstow.... what could possibly go wrong

[mikesiva]

India 430-4 declared

Jaiswal 214*
Gill 91
Sarfaraz 68*

Hartley 1-78


Sarfaraz looks like a very good young batsman.

[Durhamfootman]

England are going to lose a match they might perhaps have won, by the thick end of 500 runs

unsurprisingly Root and Bairstow were unable to add even 12 runs between them

[Durhamfootman]

Root at least has wickets to his name. Not sure what YJB is contributing atm. If Brook was around YJB would perhaps have been dropped by now. At what point does Dan Lawrence get an opportunity? an average of 17 is not a lot to beat. England do keep faith with players though. They might leave out players depending upon conditions, but they don't seem to when form is an issue.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe India isn't Bairstow's forte. But Root has been brilliant there in the past.

[Durhamfootman]

nowhere near his best in this series, Honest Joe

[sussexpob]

Normal service in India resumed. This has been a pathetic effort this test

[Durhamfootman]

Ha.... just noticed that India's nightwatchman scored more runs this morning than any of the England batters

[Durhamfootman]

Woody gets England's score into 3 figures

[Durhamfootman]

this knock from Woody is reminding me of Sgt Mac from the Predator film.... "I'm gonna have me some fun, I'm gonna have me some fun"

[sussexpob]

this knock from Woody is reminding me of Sgt Mac from the Predator film.... "I'm gonna have me some fun, I'm gonna have me some fun"

Haha.... Won't be so fun when he realises he might have to sacrifice a day off to come back tomorrkw

[sussexpob]

No danger of that ... All out.

Terrible 2.5 days from England

[Durhamfootman]

Ha.... just noticed that India's nightwatchman scored more runs this morning than any of the England batters

at least Woody made this comment null and void

[Durhamfootman]

This collapse by England is even worse than Lords last year. It has to be the worst 2 days of test cricket played by England under this regime and they are going to have to sit down and really think about it, because England first innings middle order batting collapses that leave big runs unscored are becoming a little more common of late and they need to be asking themselves why

[sussexpob]

I think we have all been in general agreement in the past about Bazballs relative merits and weaknesses, but it is annoying that England keep dishing up the slogfest on any surface and at any time. Sharma, Gill, Jadeja and Jaiswal got big scores by at least seeing some balls and accelerating... and two of those players are world leading, historically great limited overs with high levels of aggression, so its not like they aren't themselves naturally curbing their instincts. At 220-2 on Day 2, with one important bowler down, England should have grinded India into a situation of stalemate or victory... instead, they lost the game in a few overs, then turned a loss into a historical rout by the end of the day.

I know that England's bats are technically rubbish, and Bazball has at least been an efficient way of making not that great players become useful by sticking to their strengths.... I just wish that 20% of the time England would see a situation and adapt to it. In the morning of Day 3, if you ended up 270-3 after a gritty session, but forcing India's weakened attack to bowl some fruitless overs and grind them down, the afternoon could have been a runfest.

Root and Bairstow look bang out of form... Bairstow noteably keeps getting out defending his stumps, which is a worry. May need a bold decision to be made to bring in some fresh replacements, India away isnt the type of tour that is easy to play yourself into form with